Could you post a picture, please.

I'm trying and cant figure it out.....

When you post a comment, click on the Photo button and upload a photo.

First thing I would do is take some things away: the bed holding the yellow flowers along the driveway and the bed lining the outside of the sidewalk up to the door. Also, whatever that is off to the right, in the middle of the grass, kind of in front of the double windows, and the 2 doodads on the house just to the right of the front door.

Are you going to replace the shutters on the double windows on the first floor? What is that gray-ish strip just above the brick on the front of the house? The window boxes on the second floor are not wide enough.

From what I can see, you have a charming house. It just needs some help.

That is a box in the grass with leftover stone...Sorry...should have removed before picture. Yes the shutters will be replaced and left black. They were taken down to do the stonework. The grayish strip above stone is the underneath of the siding. That also was removed to do stonework.

Oh ok!

Could we get a farther back picture so we could see more of the yard? Maybe standing on the street, directly in line with the front door, and then take 3 slightly overlapping pictures (one to the left and one to the right and one straight on) all while standing in that same spot.

When I was a new gardener, I was a spotty gardener. I was cautious and bought small stuff, lots of different things. Spotty-ness does not contribute to handsome, flowing gardens that enhance a house. Maybe some of the professional gardeners on this forum will chime in and show an example of what I’m talking about.

I also wanted to get opinion on the siding. We are thinking about putting a dark brown cedar siding on the lower half...opinions??

Yes.. I agree the red door needs to be changed! What about doing a dark brown on the lower half?

Dark brown cedar siding on the “lower half?” You mean the first floor? I wouldn’t. A usual rule of thumb is to use no more than 2 different finishes on a home exterior. You already have brick (or is it stone?) and beige siding.

Black shutters ok? It just looks like it needs something

Lots of posters on this site don't care for tacked-on shutters. They are purists who feel shutters need to at least LOOK real (large enough to be functional and closed over the windows). But I'm not a purist and yours don't look bad to me.

You think something's still missing? How about a more formalized porch and a substantial sidewalk? Actually, you DO need a more substantial sidewalk.

If it were me, though, I'd beef up my landscaping - right at the house's foundation - and then consider if it's still needing something.

Actually, I like this porch better on your house. :)

The picture is too small and blurry. It would be better if you changed the camera settings to make it larger and then took pictures of a single, broad scene in 3 overlapping pictures as Littlebug suggested.

Cute house. Would remove the flower boxes beneath the windows and begin adding a shed roof for a new porch just below the window frame -- with the porch the fall the way across the ull width of the two story part of the house. Have the ceiling joists attach to the bottom of the overhang/cantilevered part of the house. The kind of post you use for your new porch could define/redefine the style of your home.

If you do decide to add shutters back to the double window, you do have room to make them the right size so they appear functional even if they aren't functional. The shutters on the double windows need to be much, much wider than what you had before.

Here are two brief articles about the wrong and right size shutters so you can see why it makes a big difference on how your house appears - either finished or off. Adding hardware to the right sized shutters helps too.

https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/residential-architecture-101-shutters/

https://thecraftsmanblog.com/why-fake-shutters-make-me-angry/

In the examples below you see very wide shutters that appear to cover the windows. Notice the shutters are only on the windows where they look like they fit and not on the windows where there isn't enough room. The house is balanced. You don't need shutters on every window when they are decorative shutters. IMO placing too small decorative shutters on your windows only enhances the feeling that something is wrong with the house curb appeal. Your mind's eye see's the disconnect even if you don't recognize what it is that is throwing the balance off.

Your original question asked about dark brown cedar on the bottom half of your house. I don't think that will enhance your home at all. I do think changing the shutters to the right size and changing the walkway to be wider and more welcoming will be a big help. Landscaping changes as mentioned are critical to improving the front. I like the idea of a proper portico like littlebug shows in her second example OR the big change that suezbell mentioned across the front (shed roof). But those changes are personal preference for you and not required at all IMO.

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